Adventures of the Little Red Menace

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Shelley, oh how I heart thee.

I just read last night that one of my favorite artists of all time, Shelley Winters, passed away over the weekend. She was either 83 or 85. For some reason, no one is really clear on her real age.

Shelley was a poor girl from Brooklyn who became one of the greatest actors of her time. Hell, of ALL time in my personal opinion. She could allow herself to be completely vunerable, sometimes to a fault, on the screen. But in real life she seemed to be nobody's fool. She more than held her own against her contemporaries. She was a beautiful woman who allowed herself to be not so beautiful or glamorous for the sake of her work. Not many actresses of her day or any day can say the same. Hell, she let herself get dumpy and didn't seem to even give a fuck. I loved that about her!

I think my favorite performance of hers was in A Place In the Sun. I also highly recommend A Patch of Blue, Lolita, Night of the Hunter, and of course, Alfie. Oh, and I don't care what anyone says - she kicked ASS in the Poseiden Adventure!

She was one of a kind. I'm sure she'll be missed by many. And I wish there were a lot more actresses like her.